Summer is a time to get outside
and reconnect with the land after being cooped up for the winter. I
love working in the garden and helping to start new plants growing.
Whether you are planting seeds in your garden, or in a paper cup,
this season's sing-along is a must. This is also a great song to sing
when starting any new project that you hope will grow strong and
beautiful. It could sung be during potty time, learning to swing a
bat, or practicing an instrument.

Dave Mallet originally wrote the
"Garden Song" but it has bee sung by many people including John
Denver, Pete Seeger, and Peter, Paul and Mary. The chorus is the
easiest to remember: "Inch by Inch, Row by Row..." but the verses are
also very rich. Enjoy!

For those of you who are long
time subscribers to my seasonal newsletter I took a brief hiatus in
the fall to welcome the birth of our second child. For those of you
who are new please enjoy the seasonal sing-along song with your
family and I hope to see you at a program soon.

February has many opportunities
for celebration: Black History Month, Valentines Day and Lincoln's
birthday. This season's sing-along touches on all three. "There's A
Little Wheel A Turnin' In My Heart" was supposedly Abraham Lincoln's
favorite song. It is also a lovely lyric to sing to someone you love.
W.E.B. DuBois wrote "The things evidently borrowed from the
surrounding world undergo characteristic change when they enter the
mouth of the slave...the wheels of Ezekiel are turned every way in
the mystic dreaming of the slave, till he says: "There's a little
wheel a-turnin' in-a-my heart." (The Souls of Black Folks: Ch. 14,
1903)

There is also a little musical
challenge in this song. I've included a harmony part, or ostinado,
that repeats over and over (wheel's a turn-in'). If you have two or
more people singing then split the parts up between you. The first
note of the harmony is the same as the first note of the
song.

I only have one public performance
scheduled over the next few months:

Summer is a great season for
outdoor parties or simply having a bunch of friends over to play.
Back before TV, radios, computer, video games and the like children
had to mostly entertain themselves. Some of the games they played
were called Play Parties. These games and dances ranged from simple
to complex. These self-entertaining games are often the best cure for
"I'm bored."

This season's sing-along is a
play party called "Bluebird, Bluebird." A group of friends hold hands
to make a circle and raise their hands in the air. This creates a
"window" between each person. The person who is "IT" trys to weave in
between the windows. If you have a lot of people try to make it
around the circle before the verse is over. If you only have a few
people see how many times "IT" can make it around. On the chorus "IT"
chooses a new bluebird and the game begins again.

Spring has been celebrated by
different societies for thousands of years as the opportunity for new
life and new growth. In many European countries May Day was the
ultimate spring party. It was a recognition of the first spring
planting and a hope for fertile fields. People would stay up late
into the night, dance around May poles and even dress in costumes.

There are several different music
parties that I will be holding this spring. They won't be late at
night, they won't have May Poles...I suppose you could wear a costume
if you like. There will be dancing, instruments, stories and
fun.

This season's sing-along is
an old English May Day song called Hal-An-Toe. The title probably
refers to dancing "heel-and-toe." The fun part of this song is the
chorus and playing a drum or other instrument on beat 4: "Hal-an-toe
(BOOM)..." There are several different verses but I only sang the one
about Robin Hood.

One of our native genres of
music in the USA is the spiritual. Some spirituals have religious
connotations and most speak to the strength of the human spirit.
"This
Little Light" is one of
the most uplifting and easy to sing spirituals. The object is
to share our inner Light, so every verse describes a different way or
place that we can Shine. The refrain is always "...I'm gonna let it
shine."

There are two concerts
Justin will be performing during the next month.

First, Justin will be
presenting his "Creepy
Crawlies" program at
the Valdez-Perry Branch Library on Saturday, November 4th at 2:00
pm. Creepy Crawlies has songs, games and dances about insects,
bugs and tiny slimy things.

Second, there is a list of private
music teachers in the Denver area for piano, strings, woodwinds,
Orff and percussion. Click
here for the PDF.

Summer 2006

This newsletter is to let you know
about Justin's many performances of his program

Animals All
Around

(ages 3-9)

This is a musical story about an
Arctic tern named Flit who is blown off her 12,000 mile migration
journey. To find her way back she travels across the continents
meeting other migratory and sedentary animals. She also learns
about the unique nature of each new friend, their uncertain
relationships with the environment and the importance of her
missing family. Children love animals and they will easily
identify with them through these geographic, scientific and social
themes. Come sing, dance and even play instruments with Justin
Miera.

(Sing different verses by
changing the word "shake" to "beat" and then
"scrape."

Play shake, beat and scrape instruments
on their corresponding verses.)

January 2006

January 16th is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and February is
African-American history month.

This is a great time of year to reflect on the music and history
of the United States through one of our native genres, the spiritual.
Some spirituals have religious connotations and most speak to the
strength of the human spirit. For me, "Michael Row" speaks to how we
can over come difficulties by working and singing together.

You are invited to one of my upcoming performances of All
That Jazz over the next month... schedule.html